Yes and no. I was smitten with the vibe when I went to one of the launch parties, but I've heard mixed buzz about the substance of the gameplay. I want to see UM do well for a variety of selfish and uncomplicated reasons -- but I'm a little bit worried about it taking off, much in the same way one worries for a new restaurant, about which all the early visitors remark, "Well, the place looks really great."

CJ notified me, so here I am. I will cheerfully answer any and all questions regarding the book, which should be available in stores sometime this month.

cmpriest

, I'm not sure what to say. As a playtester, I can cheerfully tell you that the game is definitely on the fast and brutal side of things - definitely much closer in ethos to say, Call of Cthulhu rather than a heavier more crunchy ruleset, say like our other game, Weapons of the Gods (wuxia, so I'll not speak of it further here.)

Warren

- I look forward to freakangels, and hope you like UnMet (as we tend to shorten the title) when you get it into your hands. Email me and perhaps we can work something out sooner, if only because I've enjoyed your work (big fan of Gravel and Transmet in particular.)

As a playtester, I can cheerfully tell you that the game is definitely on the fast and brutal side of things - BradofEos

Oh, yes, it was certainly a brutal game. I can say that my Doctor (with his rubber fetish and all) really was probably less of a danger to the zombies we fought than he was to his companion. But any game where I can pistol whip a zombie isn't going to be a bad one. :)

BradofEos - to be clear, I really dig everything I've seen of UM; I even pimp out the website as a starter guide to people who are interested in steampunk but don't have a good idea of what it should look like. I love the world, and I love the artwork -- and the only reason I haven't played is that I'm too deadline-choked at the moment.

This having been said, people have been emailing to ask about/talk about the game after I blogged about attending the shin-dig at the Mercury a few months ago. The impression I get is that it's a great RP for folks who are already familiar with the way an RP generally works; but some new-to-RP players have dabbled in UM because they were drawn in by the aesthetic, and they subsequently felt confused by the actual mechanics of it.

But any game wherein the possibility of pistol-whipping zombies exists is all right in my book.

You bring up a very good point. I will speak to the authors about doing a 'New to Roleplaying Intro Guide' or some such thing... they can be very useful. The one that a fan wrote for Weapons of the Gods really helped people get into the game!

And I agree, even if pistol-whipping isn't the most useful tactic against the undead. :)

They're a custom ruleset - a 2d10 system add your skill, roll against a difficulty rating. It's very much a get-on-with-the-story system, with weapons adding damage bonuses. The combat's meant to put you on the edge of your seat.

Nothing to do with our earlier efforts, really. We like to model each setting ruleswise specifically.

Yes, as in I'm the current publisher. HoL was the product of three deranged folks back in their college days and after Dirt Merchant Games let the license lapse, I picked it up and reprinted it. So I can't take too much credit for it.

Well, I do have to send the guys their checks and stuff, so I do have a current email for him. Haven't exchanged much more than polite hellos and the like with him for a while, but shoot me an email, and maybe I'll see what I can do.

Eos is in Seattle, right? Amusedly enough, two out of three HoL creators live in Seattle.

As for UM, I haven't seen a copy of it, but isn't much of a surprise considering how broken distribution has become. Do you self-distribute or go through one of the consolidation houses?

And yes, Eos is in Seattle. A lot of game developers live here, so it's not entirely a surprise, really - WotC's responsible for much of it, they invited a bunch of designers from all over to come work for them... then laid them off.

UnMet is just now in Customs; it'll be going to our fulfillment house shortly and will then be available, or through our Online Store.

Heh, sadly enough, neither one of them in Seattle do games stuff. Yeah, the move of TSR and FASA to Seattle to form WotC's RPG division and WizKids pretty much sucked up all of the full time game professionals except for the ones that spun off from White Wolf. I am still bummed that the move of Pagan Pub out to Seattle pretty much killed it.